A couple of weeks ago, a clue turned up in my cryptic crossword — Fictional detective satisfied about a vandalised rig [7] — and, once I’d solved it, got me thinking. Again.

The first thing I thought was “Hey, wow, this is like The Avengers for classic detection and crossword nerds” followed fairly swiftly by “But wouldn’t I’m confused with great detective [7] be a better clue…?” and, well, the upshot of all of this is that I’ve written another cryptic crossword.

This time, the solutions are all detectives and investigators from the Golden Age — with one exception, who is a detective from a modern author in a series of book set in the Golden Age — and…well, that’s about it. The grid took me aaaages, though, so here it is:

You can download the crossword, clues, and answers in one .pdf by clicking here; no knowledge of GAD is necessary, as the clues make no reference to books or the contents thereof — it’ll help you know when you hit on the correct answer, of course, but crossword fans and detection fans alike (and I can’t be the only one in both camps…can I?) can unify in celebration of my probably terrible clewing (though I am very fond of 11 down, among others). Beyond that…I don’t really have anything to add. Oh, except that, if anyone is interested, I’m now about halfway through Times Quick Cryptic Crossword Book 3.

So, well, if this is your kind of thing, I hope you enjoy it. And, if you’re unaware, the reason I say “I’ve written another cryptic crossword” is because I’ve previously written one based around Agatha Christie’s Poirot books, and one based around her other sleuths. There’s also this earlier one based around John Dickson Carr but that was…decidedly an apprentice work before I had any idea what I was doing.

A bientot!